We are all the products of our upbringings and experiences so it is only natural that we will all have a difference in opinion on a wide range of subjects. The world would be a very boring place if we were all the same. The diversity among people throughout the world makes it such a great place. Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization as well as the respect among coworkers. The demographics of the American workforce have changed over the last 50 years. In the 1950s, more than 60% of the American workforce consisted of white males. They were typically the sole breadwinners in the household, expected to retire by age 65 and spend their retirement years in leisure activities. Today, the American …show more content…
A serious commitment to diversity can be rewarding for both the business and its employees. Diverse work teams promote innovation and creativity, and they can help a company expand its customer base, identify unique market opportunities and avoid marketing mistakes. Driving a successful diversity strategy begins with the senior leaders, but to be fully sustainable it needs to be lived by every one of us. If that seems challenging, think about this: many leading researchers and social scientists have proven a link between diversity and productivity. In the United States, management researchers found that when people work directly with someone with at least one diverse trait, it challenges them to prepare more and work harder (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241553 Anka Wittenberg, Jan 9, …show more content…
As the world gets smaller, diversity doesn’t only mean differences in gender and race, but also in age and geography. Our world has become so technologically connected that successful companies find that to bring together these connections they have to quickly innovate. The connections are important for our global workforce because innovation advances when we are faced with things that are new to us. Diversity makes business more last longer because people do not think or act the exact same way. For this reason, when you bring a group of people together for the very first time, you have the possibility of misunderstanding or maybe even conflict. When well managed, these differences can lead to better performance by employees, teams and organizations. Research has shown that when we reject diversity it can weaken
They have to understand and practice the tools needed to manage a diverse workplace. As discussed in The Loudest Duck leaders can employ these methods to obtain a harmonious, all-inclusive environment: appreciate, promote, employ and celebrate diversity. Leaders must show appreciation and interest in the diversity of their workforce, not just look at percentages and how those are fulfilled but truly engage in understanding and developing the challenges and successes diversity brings. They need to understand how their subconscious is predisposed towards other's differences and develop a character and attitude that is not biased or predisposed to people and situations that are only similar to them. It's important for leaders to have an open-door policy that encourages sharing thoughts, rationale and feelings will help unify the diverse workforce. Leaders more than others need to understand that for a company to succeed everyone needs to feel valued and appreciated regardless of the
Generally when someone begins speaking about diversity in the workplace, thoughts of Affirmative Action, racial diversity, or even sexual equality are usually foremost in our thoughts. However, diversity in the workplace really is so much more than this, we must also consider aging workers, handicapped workers, those with alternative lifestyles, and even physical traits to name others (For the sake of simplification, throughout this paper these will usually be included in the term, minorities).
14. Rice Jr., Booker (2000, May-June). Putting diversity to work: Playing on a level field. LIMRA's MarketFacts, 11(3), 38-39.
According to researchers Frances Maher and Mary Kay Tetreault, “Privilege, in its root meaning, pertains to a law--in this case often silent and unseen--that works for or against individuals and groups” (2009). In other words, although privilege is not an object, it is real. Privilege has been demonstrated in various forms of inequality and prejudice all throughout the United States’ history. From not allowing all races to become citizens of the U.S. prior to the Fourteenth Amendment to controlling who got to vote, privilege continues to impact societies. Currently, racial privilege has had a large effect on young adults, such as those in the workforce. Here, privilege negatively affects young people by limiting their hiring opportunities,
Diversity relates to gender, age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Diversity also refers to the countless ways we are different in other respects such as educational level, job function, socio-economic background, personality profile, geographic location, marital status and whether or not one has family or other career responsibilities.
Now more than ever a company needs to be diverse in their leadership and throughout the entire company. Moreover, to reach this extraordinarily diverse market, it takes an extremely diverse workforce that is able to tap into to their various differences to understand exactly what a diverse customer base needs and wants, which provides greater innovation in productivity. Furthermore, research has proven that for every 1 percent rise in gender diversity there is an increase in sales of 3% and in for each 1 percent increase in ethnic diversity there is a 9% rise in sales, this can equate large revenues for the firm that reaps the rewards of having a diverse staff (Smedley, 2014).
Workforce diversity has become a reality in organizations. More organizations have written workforce diversity policies or programs. Although there is still no consensus on how to define workforce diversity, diversity policies and program are producing positive effects in organizations. Diversity in the workplace is a way of defining acceptable behaviors of employees. Diversity represents all the ways in which individuals are both similar and different. It involves a variation of characteristics such as: age, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, or any other differences. Although diversity initiatives are common in the workplace today, this is due mainly to the federal government use of constitutional amendments, legislation, and executive orders, along with court decisions to interpret the laws for equal rights (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2010). The way an organization defines diversity and how it manages its diverse workforce may determine its effectiveness.
Companies such as Buzztronics are leading the way in the global economy because of their dedication to diversity in the workplace. In order to build a diverse and successful workforce, a business needs to recruit, train, and retain capable and talented minorities.
In a world that has grown increasingly smaller due to mass media, world travel, and readily available information, the workplace has grown increasingly diverse in both gender and cultural aspects. Individuals no longer live and work within the confines of their geographic locations. At almost any position with any company the individual employee is a part of a larger world economy that harvests assets from the ends of the earth. Because of this, companies seek to capitalize on diversity to become more creative and flexible in their business models.
Recent years, organisation are much more relay on diversity teams to developing products, making decisions and also gain the business success (When and how), therefore diversity team are becoming a very important element for the organisations. In USA, diversity usually refer to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and ethnicity, however, diversity is not only refer to demographics, it also means the diversity in psychological characteristics like skills, personality, abilities, and education backgrounds (book diversity). Although team diversity leads to some benefits like the positive organisational cooperation, share the knowledge and experience, it can also leads some problems to the organisation, such as the tension between members
Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organisation, Diversity comes down to acceptance, respect and understanding of one another in the workplace, even when you may disagree, you need to be understanding and try your best to relate to everyone and embrace their unique differences.
Diversity is a highly important issue in today’s business, especially in a globalized company. Workplace diversity helps to get better solutions to business problems (Schawbel, 2012). When you have a group of individ...
In the workplace, it is common to encounter individuals of different cultures, ethnicities, and genders. This diversity can either lead to an introduction of new work methods, or it can lead to conflict between coworkers. In order to avoid conflict, and have all employees work as a cohesive team, managers must educate themselves, and their employees on the topic of cultural diversity. In order for your practices to be considered effective, you must not only respect and recognize an employee’s diversity, you must use their difference to benefit them.
Creating A Diverse Workplace In the changing demographics of society, diversity in the workplace is inevitable. The challenge is not creating a diverse workforce, but empowering one. Diversity refers not just to race and gender, but encompasses differences such as ages, merged companies, union/non‐union, exempt/non‐exempt, organizational newcomers and organizational old-timers. The goal is to get the level of performance from a varied group that was formerly attained by the standardized group.
There are many factors that apply in the workforce and how people do their jobs. Compared to the past – when people were just thankful to have a job – and compared to the present day workforce, the changing environment in businesses have turned into a multitude of different personalities, generational differences, cross-cultural differences, along with a changing nature of technology. Diversity is an immense issue within the changing environment of business that brings both good experiences and bad experiences to the table. What is diversity; it is about empowering people and capitalizing on all the strengths each one has to make the organization effective, putting policies into place that turns diversity into an understanding, valuing assets